Rating: 
Summary: Another Sparkly tale
Review: "The Chelsea girl murders" by writer Sparkle Hayter is the fifth in a series of mystery novels about Robin Hudson. The only series I've ever gotten into as a mystery reader. Sparkle's writing is intelligent and witty. Even with the myriad assortment of characters throughout the story, they all serve a purpose and Sparkle is so good at making them all have meaning and not add confusion.
Robin's apartment building burns down, and she takes shelter at the "Chelsea". An out of town friend left her a key to her place there, and Sparkle takes advantage. Little does she know what she's about to get herself into. As she seems to do in all the stories. It is still extremely entertaining and a laugh out loud book.
What I love most about this book is Sparkle's witty dialogue, and how she chose the illustrious "Chelsea hotel" as her set.
This is worth reading if you like funny/mystery stories. Robin Hudson is a character I always look forward to reading more about.Eileen F.
Rating:
Summary: Another Sparkly tale
Review: "The Chelsea girl murders" by writer Sparkle Hayter is the fifth in a series of mystery novels about Robin Hudson. The only series I've ever gotten into as a mystery reader. Sparkle's writing is intelligent and witty. Even with the myriad assortment of characters throughout the story, they all serve a purpose and Sparkle is so good at making them all have meaning and not add confusion.
Robin's apartment building burns down, and she takes shelter at the "Chelsea". An out of town friend left her a key to her place there, and Sparkle takes advantage. Little does she know what she's about to get herself into. As she seems to do in all the stories. It is still extremely entertaining and a laugh out loud book.
What I love most about this book is Sparkle's witty dialogue, and how she chose the illustrious "Chelsea hotel" as her set.
This is worth reading if you like funny/mystery stories. Robin Hudson is a character I always look forward to reading more about. Eileen F.
Rating: 
Summary: Hopelessly contrived plot; a waste of time
Review: A peculiar murder mystery with excellent relationships between the characters. The events in it are absurd but the emotions and insights ground it and give it true depth. I don't understand the lukewarm reviews. This book gave me my first laughs since my mother died.
Rating: 
Summary: Unique in setting and characters
Review: I like how Sparkle Hayter throws amateur detective Robin Hudson into a ridiculous situation involving a murder and then has her figure her way out of it. Most mysteries are more straightforward, less wacky, and not as interesting. In my novel, the humor/adventure story "Bounties", I too have a female main character. And like Sparkle Hayter, I keep the plot going with humor, but of a different sort. A lot of her humor is in the wacky characters, whereas I try to generate laughs with funny dialogue and some physical humor. But hats off to Sparkle Hayter for choosing such a unique setting for a mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Very Funny
Review: I thought the beginning was a bit slow and almost stopped reading. Along came Maggie Mason and I was hooked. It was fun to see how Ms. Hayter tied all the crazy elements together in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Might be the best in her series...
Review: In keeping with the Hayter streak I've been on of late, I started and finished The Chelsea Girl Murders by Sparkle Hayter. This is probably one of the more serious Robin Hudson novels to date...
Robin Hudson's apartment burns down, and she's forced to take refuge in a friend's apartment at the Chelsea Hotel. The Chelsea is a quirky historic hotel that caters to artists and celebrities. Anyway, a runaway girl also shows up at the apartment, apparently with the approval of Hudson's friend. This girl is trying to escape an arranged marriage. There's also a young man who shows up, and Hudson naturally thinks that those are the two lovers. But each of them keeps disappearing, and Hudson is trying hard to find them and reunite them. Meanwhile, someone is murdered on Hudson's doorstep, and quite a few residents have a reason to have wanted him dead. The two plotlines start to converge, and Hudson finds herself the target of killers who are mixed up in the whole affair.
As all Robin Hudson novels, the story is quirky and funny. But this seems to have a more serious element in it, and isn't quite as offbeat as the others. This could possibly be my favorite novel in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Great characters, relationships. A fun read
Review: It is a mystery, but the characters, especially Robin Hudson, spend most of their time working on other problems. Robin, the protagonist, has her apartment burned, moves into the Chelsea Hotel where her friend Tamara has an apartment, and discovers one of the strangest groups of people in the world. Tamara is out of the country through most of the book but her circle of friends are at the center of the weirdness. Tamara's revenge-seeking girlfriend and her underground railroad for lovers make for an interesting life for Robin--and a fun read for us. This is not serious mystery, this is fun--seeing people in a slightly cynical 20's view, and experiencing the angst of trying to create a relationship in a world which seems set on making all relationships fail. I'm not sure I solved the mystery before Robin did, but mostly because I lost track of the mystery and got involved with the characters. Read it for fun and don't get hung up on the plot.
Rating:
Summary: Too New York
Review: It's a very funny, but overly fantastic,mystery set in Manhattan in the Chelsea Hotel (with a lot of Chelsea Hotel history thrown in). The adventures are too wild to be believable. I buy all Sparkle Hayter's and all Janet Evanovich's, but I have to admit that Evanovich is better. Hayter tries too hard to make every character eccentric, zany or wacky in every way but maybe that's the way Manhattan is. The Trenton characters are more grounded in reality. I find that Robin Hudson comes more vividly to life whenever her background in Minnesota intrudes (which it doesn't in this book).
Incidentally I noticed a reference to checking mail for anthrax (page 20 of the paperback) and this has a 2000 original publication date.
Rating:
Summary: Move into the Chelsea NOW!
Review: Once again Sparkle Hayter invites readers to share a slice of zany life with Robin Hudson, her sleuth-cum-TV-newsie. Forced from her apartment by a fire, Robin and her tabby cat, Louise Bryant, find sanctuary at the Chelsea Hotel. Naturally the stay is not uneventful, what with a man dying at Robin's feet, a young woman who appears, then vanishes, and a host of characters, each with their own odd agendas, each of whom seems a likely suspect for murder, mayhem and more. Of course Robin tries to solve the murder, find the missing girl and tie up the tag ends of questions galore, all against the backdrop of the storied hotel. Sparkle Hayter sprinkles tidbits of the hotel's history like tasty croutons, painting a vivid picture of a special place to live and dream. I wont give away the scene with the nuns, or the trek through Central Park, you'll just have to laugh your way through them yourself. The witticisms and brilliant "wish-I'd-said-that" lines sprout like the poison ivy Robin likes to grow for protection from burglars. When I finished this book, I was disappointed to look up and find I did NOT live in the Chelsea after all. If you've ever lived in NYC, this book will evoke the good memories; if you haven't, you'll feel as if you did, cursing at cabs and mingling with the sidewalk masses. "The Chelsea Girl Murders" is a good-humored escape from the boring Monday-Tuesday-Wednesdayish reality most of us face daily. Luckily Sparkle Hayter and Robin Hudson provide the Maximum Daily Requirement of laughter and fun. If you have not read the previous Robin Hudson books, start here and work your way back. You will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Humor, danger, and an angst ridden love life among the arts.
Review: Sparkle Hayter's Robin Hudson is rapidly becoming one of my favorite characters in the sub genre that is hard boiled humor romance mystery (for lack of a better term). If you enjoy Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series then you'll enjoy this one. Hudson works for a large liberal (is there any other kind?) news network, and the double dealings and office politics from her employment situation alone make the series worthwhile. Author Hayter used to work for several such organizations, and her descriptions of life at the all news station rings true. Her love life is about as messed up as Stephanie Plum's or Casey Jones (another series I recommend), and while some of her mystery situations seem over the top, there's still enough threat of real danger and believable bad guys (and gals) to keep up the suspense. In this novel, which is the 5th in the series, Robin's apartment is burned down by one of her older neighbor's electric Ascension of Jesus display when it develops a short circuit. Taking her few rescued belongings and her grandfather's old rifle (purely for sentimental value) she moves into the famous Chelsea hotel, home to the artists and bohemian eccentrics in New York. Before she can settle into her new (borrowed from a friend) digs and start her vacation she encounters dead philandering artists, mute Zen bodybuilders, former girlfriends of her own former boyfriends, and young lovers on the lam. As usual her only choice is to jump in where others fear to tread and try to solve the mysteries involved. Definitely recommended.
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